Rocker-recliner chairs have been a popular home and commercial furniture item for many years. Myriad different rocker-recliner mechanism configurations for rocker-recliners have been developed over time. Examples of prior art rocker-recliner mechanisms, including recliner mechanisms, may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,903 to Gerth; U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,647 to Rogers; Re U.S. Pat. No. 33,704 to Rogers; U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,201 to Rogers; U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,025 to Rogers; U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,967 to Rogers; 5,171,000 to LaPointe et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,094 to Hoffman; U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,754 to Lawson; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,891 to Hoffman; all of which are hereby fully incorporated herein by reference.
Prior art rocker-recliner mechanisms typically include a base portion with a pair of floor contacting rails laterally spaced apart and positioned at each side of the chair. A rocker cam rests on each of these rails. A recliner mechanism including a plurality of interconnected pivoting links is connected with each of the rocker cams so as to be rockable in a fore and aft direction.
The pair of recliner mechanisms may be connected together and located by one or more bracing members, or may be connected by the chair frame. The mechanisms are usually actuated with a lever-operated shaft that is operably coupled with each mechanism so as to actuate the mechanisms together. One or more spring assemblies may be connected between the base and the rocker cams so as to bias the chair into an upright position and to assist the rocking motion of the chair. A “rocker-blocker” mechanism is sometimes provided to prevent rocking of the chair when the chair is reclined from its fully upright position.
In some of the prior art rocker-recliner mechanisms mentioned above, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,519,647 and 4,707,025, the biasing springs are connected directly between the rocker cam and the floor contacting rails of the base, and the recliner mechanisms are connected with the chair frame with little if any additional bracing between the mechanisms. Such configurations may be relatively heavy and lack lateral and torsional rigidity, thereby causing the overall mechanism to “loosen-up” over time and eventually fail.
Other prior art commercialized mechanisms, such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,754, have a cross-tube assembly positioned over the base rails and connecting the rocker cams. The biasing spring assemblies are mounted between the cross tube assembly and the base and the recliner mechanisms are connected at each side of the cross tube assembly. Each of the two spring assemblies is comprised of at least four components, two springs, a top cap and a bottom cap. The cross tube assembly is typically fabricated from multiple pieces of square or round metal tubing that are welded together. This cross tube assembly arrangement may be relatively expensive to fabricate due to the need to position together, assemble and weld the multiple tubing pieces and other components. Each of the two spring assemblies must be attached intermediate the base and cross tube assembly using four screw-nut combinations.
What is needed in the industry is a rocker-recliner mechanism having fewer components facilitating easy fabrication at reduced cost, while maintaining suitable strength.